Fatal Frame
:This article is for the Playstation 2 release. For other uses see Fatal Frame (disambiguation). Fatal Frame, or Zero in Japan and Project Zero in Europe, is a survival horror video game released for the PlayStation 2 and, later, the Xbox consoles. It is the first of three games from the Fatal Frame series. Storyline On a dark September night in 1986, a young college student named Miku Hinasaki arrived at the Himuro Mansion to look for her missing brother, Mafuyu. Mafuyu went to the mansion to find his friend and mentor, a mystery novelist named Junsei Takamine, who went there previously to research a book with his editor, Koji Ogata, and a friend versed in the paranormal, Tomoe Hirasaka. Armed with only a flashlight, Miku enters Himuro Mansion, which has been mysteriously empty for years and is rumored to be haunted. She later finds the mysterious camera that Mafuyu had brought with him, and that the siblings' mother passed down to them that can kill ghosts when she takes pictures of them. During her time in the mansion she sees various apparitions of her missing brother, Mafuyu. She also sees a young girl in a white kimono on many occasions and an angry female spirit, Kirie, who on many occasions tries to kill Miku. The Himuro Mansion was the site of many horrific rituals, the main one being the Strangling Ritual which was designed to keep the Hell Gate located beneath the mansion closed. The ritual would require a Rope Shrine Maiden to be selected and hidden away for ten years with little contact with anyone so she would have no attachments to the world. The culmination of the ritual was that the Shrine Maiden would be taken down to the Rope Shrine, formed in a cavern beneath the grounds, and torn apart on a large stone deviced using five ropes tied to her hands, feet and neck. The bloody ropes would then be taken to the Hell Gate and tied around the front of the gate, keeping it closed. The purpose was to prevent the Malice from within the Hell Gate from escaping, causing what the residents of the Himuro household referred to as The Calamity. Kirie was the last Rope Shrine Maiden, her ritual failed due to her budding love of a handsome stranger who visited the mansion. The failure resulted in the Calamity and the deaths of everyone in the mansion. The Malice attached itself to her sad spirit and twisted her into a vengeful ghost and split her soul in half. One is the monsterous woman who lurks the mansion, spreading her pain and misery and the other is a small girl in a white kimono who is the embodiment of Kirie's sense of duty to her role as the Rope Shrine Maiden. After four days of exploration, Miku discovers Kirie's final resting place, the Hell Gate. Miku overcomes Kirie in a battle, thus removing the Malice from her spirit. Then, out of the blue, Mafuyu appears. Kirie only has a moment to regain her senses before the small child version of herself appears, reminding her "Don't forget your duty." before fading away. Resolute, Kirie rises and walks towards the Hell Gate. Using her powers, she wills the ropes to tie around her wrists and binds herself infront of the Hell Gate so that it will never open again. Suddenly, the cavern starts to shake and crumble. Kirie tells Miku and Mafuyu that she must remain to block the Hell Gate and they should escape. Miku and Mafuyu start running, but Mafuyu stops and tells Miku that he cannot leave Kirie alone. He stays behind as Miku escapes. Outside of the house, as she watches the souls of those trapped in the house float gently into the sky, Miku comments that, after that day, she no longer saw things that other people didn't. This ending is considered canon due to the events in Fatal Frame 3. If the player beats the game in Nightmare Mode an alternate ending plays instead: Instead of staying behind with the Shrine Maiden, both Mafuyu and Miku escape and see the souls released. Controversy Supposedly, the game is based around the true story and legends surrounding Himuro Mansion in Japan. The mansion is rumored to be the gruesome death site of a Japanese family and several of its associates a few decades ago. However, when asked, Makoto Shibata, the series producer, said the game was based on two old Japanese urban legends and ghost stories; he made no mention of the previous tales of the Himuro mansion murders, which brings into question the factuality of this previous 'basis' for the true story. It is also worth noting that the game was not explicitly advertised as being based on a true story in Japan, and that the "based on a true story" tag line was not used until Tecmo released the game outside of Japan. Makoto Shibata described the inspiration for the game’s haunted house, "In an area outside Tokyo, there lies a mansion in which it’s said seven people were murdered in a grisly manner. On the same property, there lie three detached residences that surround the mansion, all of which are rumored to have ties to the mansion’s troubled past. It’s said there is an underground network of tunnels that lay beneath the premises, but nobody knows who made these tunnels or what purpose they served. Many inexplicable phenomenon have been reported occurring on the property. Bloody hand prints have been found splattered all over the walls. Spirits have been spotted on the premises… even in broad daylight! A narrow stairway leads to an attic where a spirit-sealed talisman is rumored to be locked away. Men have sought this talisman, only to be found later with their bodies broken and rope marks around their wrists. There’s a crumbling old statue of a woman in a kimono, but its head is missing. If you take a photo of a certain window, a young girl can be seen in the developed picture. These incidents have provoked fear in the people of Tokyo, and many believe that those who live near this area will become cursed. The deaths of those seven people are unexplained to this day." Category:Games Category:Fatal Frame